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NYSE Euronext today underlined the importance of having a âbroad array of products and servicesâ as the European equities and derivatives trading units it acquired a year ago outperformed its traditional US share trading business in the first quarter of this year.

European equity volume was up 39% while trading on its European derivatives market Liffe rose 29% months on last year, compared to a 26% increase in US equity trading volume.

A 48% increase in trading revenues, which hit $830m (€536.5m), drove the exchange’s revenues up a quarter to $1.2bn for the three months while net profits were up 52% to $241m.

Revenue from the technology business, which, among other things, sells derivatives trading system Liffe Connect, was up 28% to $106m but some of the exchange’s smaller business units performed less well as listing revenue rose 3% to $98m, market data was flat at $104m and regulatory revenue fell 74% to $13m.

Duncan Niederauer, the chief executive of NYSE Euronext, said: “Our strong performance in the first quarter of 2008 highlights the growing demand for our broad array of products and services across all of our business units and the inherent operating leverage in NYSE Euronext’s diverse business model.”

Joost van der Does de Willebois, acting chief financial officer of NYSE Euronext, added the merger between the New York exchange and Paris-based group is progressing well, a year after the landmark transatlantic merger, which completed in April last year.

He said: “In addition to producing strong revenue growth, we are well on target to achieve our annual $250m in technology-run rate savings. In the first quarter, we achieved $70m in annual IT run-rate savings, which exceeds our previously-announced $50m goal.”

Separately, the exchange said it had selected Anglo-French clearer LCH.Clearnet and fledgling European service EuroCCP, run by US giant the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, to handle clearing trades on SmartPool, a European trading system.

The system, a so-called “dark pool” which allows clients to trade anonymously, is being developed in partnership with European banks HSBC and BNP Paribas ahead of its planned launch in the second half of this year.